Tipsarevic cruises past Murray

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Abu Dhabi - Olympic Games and US Open champion Andy Murray saw his Mubadala World Tennis Championship campaign last just 84 minutes on Thursday when he slumped to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.

Tipsarevic, the world number nine, will now face Spain's Nicolas Almagro, who replaced Rafael Nadal in the three-day exhibition tournament, in Friday's semi-finals.

"I hit the ball pretty well, it was just the execution of some of my shots wasn't perfect, but that's pretty normal when you have not played a match for a while," said world number three Murray.

Tipsarevic added: "I am happy with my game. I know it is an exhibition game but to play a Grand Slam champion and an Olympic Games gold medal winner and win, I am just delighted.

"I hope to get two more victories and that would be great going into the Australian Open."

David Ferrer also reached the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

Ferrer will tackle world number one Novak Djokovic on Friday for a place in Saturday's final.

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